The Price of Power
by theweirdperson
Summary: Jim and Tim visit Team Go, and discover that having superpowers isn't always what it's cracked up to be. Oneshot.


Disclaimer: I don't own Kim Possible. Really. I don't. I wish I did, but I don't.

The Possibles were spending the weekend in Go City. Mrs. Possible had a brain surgeon's convention on Saturday afternoon, and Mr. Possible had a rocket scientist's convention on Sunday afternoon. So, the Possible parents had decided they might as well just bring the whole family to Chicago.

Of course, Jim and Tim were still up to their usual mischief...

---

"Thanks for driving us out here, Mr. Pendanskie," Jim said.

"No problem," the cab driver answered. "After your sister rescued me from that accident..."

The boys didn't stay to listen. They darted out from the cab and rushed toward their destination.

"Hicka bicka boo!"

"Hoosha!"

Their plan had been brilliant-- their mother had been at her convention, their father had been preoccupied with making sure he was up-to-date on all the latest rocket scientist news, and Kim had gone out shopping. To keep anyone from suspecting they were gone, they had reprogrammed a video game console to simulate actual gameplay sounds, the volume turned up loud enough to hear from just outside the door, yet not loud enough to disturb anyone.

Go Tower rose in the distance.

---

"So... how are we supposed to get in here?" Tim asked his twin.

"I dunno. I guess..." Jim was interrupted by a robotic spy eye extending from a spot beside the imposing metal door.

It looked at them. A voice came from a speaker.

"Who are you, and what business do you have with Team Go?"

"We just wanted to ask you a few questions," Jim answered.

A sigh came from the speaker. "A little young to be reporters, aren't you?"

"We're not reporters," Tim said. "We're just curious."

The speaker emitted another sigh. "Come in," the voice said, and the doors whooshed open.

---

The boys looked around, fascinated by what they saw.

A huge chamber.

A giant viewscreen.

A conference table, ringed with five chairs, four of which were currently occupied.

The twins recognized them from the research they'd done on Team Go. The largest man, clad in blue and black, was Hego, who had super strength. The one who wore purple and black was Mego, with the ability to shrink. Last of all were the twins, Igo and Yougo, who could create copies of themselves.

"Hello," Hego said. "It's been awhile since anyone visited. With Aviarius still locked up, and Kim Possible taking care of the other supervillans, it's been pretty dull around here."

"Yeah..." Tim trailed off. "Um, you all got your powers from a comet, right?"

"Right," the four heroes chorused.

"So, how much do you know about this comet?" Jim asked.

Hego paused. "Not much, really. It hit our treehouse, we got superpowers, and that's about it. We do still have a few fragments from the comet."

"Cool! Can we, you know, have a sample?" Tim asked.

"They aren't powered up any more, you know. They won't give you superpowers," Hego said.

"That's all right. I'll bet Jim and I could find a way to replicate the original reaction, and--"

"Slow down there," Hego said, holding his hands up. "Powers aren't always all they're cracked up to be."

"We know, we know," blurted Jim. "'With great power comes great responsibility.' We know all that."

"That wasn't really what I meant," said Hego. "Let me explain:

The comet altered us, and gave us superpowers, true. But our powers didn't come without cost. For instance, my metabolism is greatly accelerated. I need to eat far more than a regular human does."

"That doesn't sound so bad," said Jim.

"It can be annoying," said Hego. "Furthermore, I will starve and die in about a week without food. That fact almost killed me, once." Hego shook his head.

"And _I _often experience worse growing pains than you can possibly imagine," Mego broke in. "You see, my body undergoes quite a shock when it shrinks. If I do it too often, although sometimes even once sets it off..." Mego winced. "As soon as I become large again, my entire body aches like anything."

"Our sister, Shego," Hego went on, "well, she's apt to sudden mood swings. It's like she's in a state of constant PMS. That might be part of the reason she... left."

"Oh," said Jim and Tim simultaneously. They looked at the other set of twins. "What about you?"

Igo and Yougo looked at each other. "Well... we do sometimes have pain like Mego, after we, er... unreplicate. But it isn't as frequent or severe," said Igo.

"What really gets us is the fact that we're connected," Yougo explained. "I can always feel what Igo feels, and vice versa."

"But that sounds cool," said Tim.

"It was, kind of, at first," said Igo. "But we also feel each other's pain. Furthermore, when we replicate, whatever happens to one body is felt by every other one." Igo shuddered. "Once... once I got careless," he said, looking away. "I wasn't watching, wasn't paying attention to all of the bodies..." He closed his eyes. "One of them got crushed by one of Aviarius' deathtraps. I felt it dying... it hurt," Igo finished.

Jim and Tim stood silent for a moment. "We never thought of it like that before," said Jim.

"Not many people do," said Hego. "But now you know."

"Thanks for telling us about it," said Tim. "We have to go now."

Tim and Jim left the tower, deep in thought.

---

Fortunately, no one had noticed the boys' absence. They crept quietly back into their hotel room and turned off the game console.

"Superpowers don't seem so cool any more," said Tim.

"You're right," said Jim. Neither said anything for a minute.

"But you know..." said Tim. "Batman doesn't have any superpowers..."

"Just martial arts skills and gadgets!" Jim finished. "We can get started on the gadget part right away!"

And they did so.


End file.
